Nothing in this world is perfect. even weed. The legalization of cannabis use in parts of North America has created opportunities for long-time enthusiasts to get their fill legally and for non-marijuana users to have a try. Made readily accessible, there are now marijuana dispensaries and weed delivery services near our communities.
Ignoring the stigma and misinformation out there, there are advantages and disadvantages to smoking weed. Here is a list with the 15 advantages and disadvantages of smoking weed:
1. Advantage – Weed Strengthens Our Bones
There are many advantages and disadvantages of smoking weed and one of the advantage is it strengthen our bones and speed up the healing process in bone breaks. For people of an older age interested in smoking weed, including anyone with osteoporosis, this is welcome news.
2. Disadvantage – Weed Can Cause Dry Mouth
Smoking marijuana can be bad for your oral health. If you experience dry mouth, the risk of cavities and gum disease increase. There is also some research showing cannabis may have a relationship to an increased risk of mouth and neck cancer.
3. Advantage – Weed Helps MS Symptoms
Multiple sclerosis can be exhibited in many symptoms. Through smoking weed, muscle stiffness and spasms decrease significantly, muscle tone gets better, and there’s the auto-inflammatory response as well.
4. Disadvantage – Weed Can Cause Memory Impairment
In some individuals, regular cannabis users can see an impairment of memory. Studies have demonstrated how regular weed use can change motor learning networks in the brain and decrease neural efficiency. It bears noting this is applicable only to regular weed users.
5. Advantage – Weed Minimizes Drug Abuse Withdrawal Symptoms
Multiple studies show that cannabis is successful at helping people get off a myriad of pharmaceutical medications and street drugs. From opioid addiction to heroin, recovering addicts using cannabis are more likely to be successful in battling through withdrawal symptoms.
6. Disadvantage – Weed Can Be Addictive
On its own, marijuana is not considered an addictive substance. Many can have some and be perfectly fine, very similar to an individual’s relationship with alcohol. Unfortunately, up to 30 percent of cannabis consumers may develop a physical addiction. This is diagnosed through identification of withdrawal symptoms like headaches, extreme sweating, and insomnia.
7. Advantage – Weed Fights Depression
Some mistakenly believe weed to cause or contribute to depression. The opposite is actually a truer statement. Weed can help mental health in several ways, including in fighting anxiety, depression, and even insomnia. In fact, the response in our bodies to cannabis intake is near-identical to how we process anti-depressants. It has the same effect.
8. Disadvantage – Weed Has a Very Minimal Risk of Schizophrenia
In a very small amount of people, the THC in weed has been shown to activate temporary or permanent forms of schizophrenia. This is most likely to occur in someone where weed is encouraging emotional withdrawal and/or impairing motor skills. Though very, very, very unlikely, it’s worth noting the risk for regular weed smokers.
9. Advantage – Weed Is An Effective Dementia Treatment
Cannabis isn’t a cure-all by any means but in dementia patients, it can help and especially throughout the earlier stages. The THC in weed prevents cell death. Consuming weed, one’s agitation and aggression also decrease.
10. Disadvantage – In Younger Men, Testicular Cancer Risk Increases
Despite being an anti-cancer treatment, smoking weed has been shown in young men to increase their likelihood of developing aggressive testicular cancer. This is believed to be due to heavy marijuana use disrupting one’s hormonal balance which can lead to the forming of cancerous cells.
11. Advantage – Weed Has Pain-Relieving Properties
Smoking marijuana is very much recommended for people with chronic pain, chronic inflammation, or arthritis. Weed can help a wide variety of pain and is more effective than traditional pain-killers in addressing some tough-to-reach pain including fibromyalgia and similar conditions.
12. Advantage – Weed Can Kill Migraines
Migraines are notoriously tough to treat with pharmaceutical medications only being partially successful. Smoking weed, anti-inflammatory effects kick in. Your neurogenic inflammation decreases which addresses migraines that might be happening right then and there. Regular cannabis consumption has also been shown to prevent migraine attacks as well.
13. Disadvantage – Weed Lowers Your Testosterone Levels
Smoking weed regularly can decrease sperm concentration on-average by 28 percent and combined with other recreational drugs can reduce it by up to 52 percent. Though there are natural ways to boost testosterone, this is certainly something to be aware of for any would-be father who is trying to get their partners pregnant.
14. Advantage – Weed Aids in Minimizing Chemotherapy Side-Effects
Chemotherapy isn’t a nice process to go through. Patients are hit with a lot of nausea and vomiting afterwards. Smoking some marijuana can reduce nausea, increase the appetite, and thereby help a patient maintain a healthy weight. Adding cannabis to your chemotherapy planning will also aid in fighting pain and weakness in the body.
15. Advantage – Weed Combats Insomnia and ADHD
Individuals with hyperactive thought-processes and brains that can’t seem to shut off are being given cannabis to help them wind down at the end of the day. Smoking weed before bed promotes restful sleep, reduced ADHD symptoms, and other hyperactive behaviours.
